William Godwin: Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. Godwin's memoir of Mary Wollstonecraft has been called the first modern biography. At the time, however, its frankness and emotional candour provoked general outrage.
Godwin did not hesitate to include the most painful and scandalous episodes in Mary's life: her brutal, drunken father; her affair with Gilbert Imlay and the birth of their illegitimate daughter, Fanny; her two suicide attempts; her unconventional religious faith; the ghastly details of her death. The poet Robert Southey joined the chorus of disapproval and condemned Godwin for 'stripping his dead wife naked'.
Date Published:
2 December 2010
Source:
Contributors:
Henry Cockburn
In Collection(s):
Writing lives: biography, autobiography, memoir, life-writing
Cite:
William Godwin: Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman at https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/ via https://dev.writersinspire.it.ox.ac.uk/content/william-godwin-memoirs-author-vindication-rights-woman. Published on 02 December 2010. Accessed on 10 May 2026.
If reusing this resource please attribute as follows: William Godwin: Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman (https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/), licensed as Creative Commons BY-NC-SA (2.0 UK).